‘Abdu’l-Bahá

O ye sons and daughters of the Kingdom! Your
letter was received. From its contents it was known that,
praise be to God, your hearts are in the utmost purity and
your souls rejoice in the glad tidings of God. The mass of
the people are occupied with self and worldly desire, are
immersed in the ocean of the nether world and are captives
of the world of nature, save those souls who have been freed
from the chains and fetters of the material world and, like
unto swift-flying birds, are soaring in this unbounded
realm. They are awake and vigilant, they shun the obscurity
of the world of nature, their highest wish centereth on the
eradication from among men of the struggle for existence,
the shining forth of the spirituality and the love of the realm
on high, the exercise of utmost kindness among peoples,
the realization of an intimate and close connection between
religions and the practice of the ideal of self-sacrifice. Then
282
will the world of humanity be transformed into the Kingdom
of God.

O ye friends, exert ye an effort! Every expenditure is in
need of an income. This day, in the world of humanity, men
are all the time expending, for war is nothing but the consumption
of men and of wealth. At least engage ye in a
deed of profit to the world of humanity that ye may
partially compensate for that loss. Perchance, through the
divine confirmations, ye may be assisted in promulgating
amity and concord among men, in substituting love for
enmity, in causing universal peace to result from universal
war and in converting loss and rancour into profit and love.
This wish will be realized through the power of the
Kingdom.